1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of cleaning devices such as hand held dusters and dust mops, bathroom cleaners, toilet cleaners and other cleaning devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to a flexible cleaning device for accommodating the cleaning or dusting of difficult to access surfaces.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
For decades, hand held feather dusters, dust rags and other cleaning implements have been used as cleaning tools for the removal of dust adhering to furniture such as dressers and coffee tables, electrical appliances such as computers, lights, interior walls, lintels and the like. Thus, it is generally well known to remove dust or dirt from floors, furniture, and other household surfaces by rubbing a dust rag, cloth or other cleaning implement against the surface to be cleaned such that the dust or dirt adheres to the cleaning implement.
Despite the existence of numerous dusting or cleaning implements, dusting or cleaning of surfaces in hard to reach and inaccessible areas remains a common problem. Currently, in order to clean behind heavy appliances such as televisions or stereos, a user must physically move the appliance to enable the user to adequately clean behind the desired appliance. Certain fixtures, such as radiators in older homes are immovable and present a significant challenge for cleaning. Likewise, other odd shaped or difficult to reach surfaces such as the inner rim of a toilet seat or the spindle on a staircase provide challenges to cleaning.
While hand held dusters and other cleaning implements are generally well known in the art, numerous drawbacks exist with the current commercially available designs. For example, U.S. Application Pub. No. U.S. 2004/0034956 A1, U.S. Pat. No. 6,813,801, U.S. Pat. No. 5,953,784 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,550,092, hereby expressly incorporated by reference, disclose variations of hand held cleaning devices incorporating a disposable cleaning pad. These devices, while somewhat suitable for the desired application, exhibit notable limitations. For example, none of the above-cited references provide an elongated flexible support arm that allows a user to bend the duster or cleaning device into a variety of shapes. Instead, most prior art hand held dusters or cleaners utilize rigid supports that do not allow a user to shape the duster into unique configurations to enable the user to dust or clean behind hard to reach places. While some prior art devices exhibit a movable joint to enable better storage or shipping, such devices are typically constructed to be flexible only in the one direction, and as such its cleaning capability is restricted by its maneuverability. The duster of the present invention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art since, inter alia, it is constructed of an elongated rod which is flexible in all directions.
In general, the majority of improvements to hand held dusters and mops have been directed at improving the basic mechanical components of the cleaning device. These improvements have been directed at providing an inexpensive yet robust implement for dry dusting or cleaning. However, notably absent in the prior art is any attempt to provide a hand held cleaning implement that allows for rotational movement to allow for a flexible cleaning device.
Likewise, the cleaning surface of the cleaning implement in many of these devices is relatively small, such that use of these cleaning devices on large surfaces requires considerable effort on the user's part. In addition, most prior art cleaning pads, only include a single cleaning surface. The duster of the present invention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art since, inter alia, it is constructed of an elongated 360° cleaning surface.